I got a call in the office on Thursday from Brendan, one of the producers of the Kojo Nnamdi Show, which airs on WAMU radio, in DC. They’re planning to do a show on Wikipedia and the “wiki phenomenon,” as this producer put it. Originally the show was supposed to be on this Tuesday; I got an email yesterday from the producer saying that it’s been rescheduled to February.

I’m not sure how they got my name. I wrote that Lyceum paper with Fred, but that wasn’t specifically about wikis, or really even about wikis at all, except in passing. Also I’m a member of the WikiProject for Librarians on Wikipedia, but so are a lot of other people, though I think I’m the only faculty member. Maybe he stumbled across my name there? Who knows. Googling myself and Wikipedia returns some of my blog posts, unsurprisingly.

So anyway, Brendan called me on a bit of a fishing expedition: to ask me some questions, learn more about the topic himself, ask me if I could recommend anyone else who he should talk to, & I suppose to suss me out to see if I’d make a good radio interviewee. He asked me a bunch of questions about Wikipedia & wikis: what are the legal implications (a la the recent Seigenthaler imbroglio), where is wiki-related technology going in the long term, death of the print information source, etc. I recommended that he go straight to the source & contact Jimmy Wales; he said he already had a call in to his office or whatever Jimmy Wales has. I also recommended Alex Halavais.

Brendan asked me if I would be available for the show on Tuesday, though now it’s been put off until February. So maybe he’ll call back & ask me to be on the show; it’s too soon to tell. I’ve never been on the radio before; I’m a bit nervous actually. I don’t really think on my feet particularly well. I suppose that’s why I can survive in the classroom: plenty of lead time. Anyway, in case I am asked to be on the show, I’m preparing a set of talking points about wikis & the takeaway messages that I want the radio-listening world to, well, take away. Any of you all out there in Radio-Wiki Land have suggestions for talking points?